Conventional cellular networks are a complex system of various network components. Each component handles a specific set of protocols and services multiple clients. Even a moderately sized cellular network will have a large number of towers distributed geographically to provide a radio link between the core network and a number of client devices. Eventually, network traffic from the client devices travels through a small number of links that connect the core network of a provider to the larger Internet.
Due to the growing demands of mobile users, modern cellular networks service an increasingly large amount of bandwidth. Every network component must be sufficiently equipped to support the bandwidth demands. Otherwise, client experience is degraded and network performance suffers.
One aspect of network management is the detection of “congested” links. Congested links occur where the available bandwidth does not meet the actual demand. In a cellular network, making a determination of which links are congested is difficult, since the cost and complexity of installing monitoring systems at each radio tower is prohibitive.
It would be desirable to implement a system to estimate whether or not a particular link is congested where the estimation is accomplished by analyzing aggregate traffic from within the core network.